2013

I am naturally all in favour of caps being doffed to academics. But should the preferences of my ego be translated into judicial review doctrine? Two recent decisions from either side of the Atlantic demonstrate the favoured judicial approaches to review of academic decisions and some of the potential pitfalls. In Kwao v. University of Keele, […] Read more

Given the recent discussion of the constraints law places — or doesn’t place — on administration, I think Executive Order — Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity is noteworthy. Even though President Obama is not under any duty to follow the strictures of the Administrative Procedure Act in issuing executive orders, the hallmarks of administrative law can […] Read more

I managed to be inadvertently provocative on this subject last time out, with Michael Greve failing to catch my clin d’oeil towards Akhil Amar’s anguished declaration that if Obamacare were turned to dust by the U.S. Supreme Court his whole life would be a fraud. In any event, Greve has now explained in some more […] Read more

In Barreau du Québec c. Khan, 2011 QCCA 792, the Québec Court of Appeal held that a student who failed a bar exam was entitled to look over her exam, answer booklet, answer key and correction grid and to take notes while doing so. With its decision in Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec […] Read more

Provocative post from Michael Greve. A taste: More and more, our administrative state looks like something dreamt up in a late-night meeting between Carl Schmitt and Evita Peron. I’m teaching something called, fraudulently, administrative “law.” Believe you me: nothing in that corpus juris poses any meaningful constraint on government. Read more

Saoirse Brady had a fine op-ed in the Irish Times this week on the problems claimants experience in the Irish social welfare decision-making process: “Social welfare appeals process not fit for purpose“. The report she describes can be downloaded from the website of the Free Legal Advice Centre. Read more

In the context of an ongoing investigation of the embattled engineering firm, SNC-Lavalin, Québec’s securities regulator compelled an executive to produce certain documents. In the same letter, however, the regulator purported to prevent the executive from telling anyone else about the documents (apart from the company’s lawyers). Revealing the existence of an ongoing investigation was […] Read more

Canada’s immigration system is bursting at the seams. One of the backlogs is in sponsorship applications by Canadian permanent residents and citizens of their parents and grandparents. The federal government’s response was to institute, by way of ministerial instructions issued pursuant to s. 87 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, a “temporary pause” in […] Read more

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford won his appeal this morning, as I predicted. You can find my previous posts here: http://administrativelawmatters.blogspot.ca/2012/11/the-mayor-bias-procedural-fairness-and.html http://administrativelawmatters.blogspot.ca/2012/12/municipal-powers-another-look-at-ford.html http://administrativelawmatters.blogspot.ca/2013/01/mayor-ford-collateral-damage-from.html And a Financial Post op-ed here: http://opinion.financialpost.com/2012/12/11/divisional-court-should-overturn-flawed-rob-ford-decision/ Read more

Members of Canada’s First Nations have, if they can satisfy the significant evidentiary thresholds, potentially broad rights to engage in traditional practices such as hunting and fishing. At issue in L=Hirondelle v Alberta (Sustainable Resource Development), 2013 ABCA 12 was the administrative structure erected by the province of Alberta to regulate the issuing of fishing […] Read more